Cakes and Gardens

I'm afraid there aren't many pictures from the past couple of weeks as we've been extremely busy. We enjoyed dinner with my parents last weekend as we celebrated my dad's 59th birthday. After dinner and baths, it was a race for Grandma's lap for storytime.

One of the time-takers from the past week was my first commissioned cake decorating job. Elizabeth's teacher is convinced that I should go into business for myself and so she called early in the week with her order. Cake decorating is something that I really enjoy, as my mother did and still does occasionally. Where it goes from here, has yet to be seen.

The biggest time-taker of the week was this plot of land in the backyard. My garden has doubled in size for the year, taking it from 14' x 20' to 14' x 41'. In order to pull this off I had to remove the sod from the new area. We once just rototilled it under and I regretted it for the rest of the summer as all of the grass came back. This was much more labor intensive but will hopefully produce better results. Our lettuce is already coming up and our indoor seed station is starting to show some activity. I'm excited to have a lot more room to not only grow more but to create a kid-friendly garden for the girls to help with this summer. Hopefully, they will eventually reach a point where they're as excited to EAT the homegrown veggies as they are to help take care of them. I'm not holding my breath!

Hope you have a great week!

Easter Day

We spent a quiet Easter as a family this year. We were able to spend time counting our blessings together and rejoicing that Jesus is alive and a part of our home. We are so thankful for the many ways God has blessed our family and carried us through the difficult times as well.

Our beautiful family. We are so thankful for these 3 little blessings that both enrich and at times control our lives.

Bryan, always our little clown.

Ashlynn, our sweet little princess, always thinking of others.

Elizabeth, who's growing up way too fast to suit us. By the way, as of yesterday her class had earned enough money to buy almost 15 goats at $75.00 each. Today, they are presenting their business plan, and the Advance is coming in to take some pictures. When their teacher was marveling out loud at how proud she was that the kids worked so hard when they are essentially getting nothing in return, one of the little boys interjected that they certainly were reaping the benefits of joy in their hearts knowing that they were able to make a difference for all the families that will receive the goats. In spite of all of the negativity directed toward public schools, our family has a completely different story. We are so blessed to be part of a school that is not only challenging our children academically but is also helping them to develop strong values as well. Have a wonderful weekend.

Easter Eggs and Get a Goat Fund

It's been a long time since the last post but we have had a very busy couple of weeks. This past week was Spring Break and we enjoyed being home together as a family while we prepared for our big "Getting Rid of Baby Stuff" Garage Sale. It's over now. We did well and are happy to have our garage back and a much less cluttered home to contend with. One of the events of the week was coloring our Easter eggs. We did it with a lot less mess that usual this year which made Mommy VERY happy!

Bryan, the silent (OK, not SO silent) observer. He enjoyed watching his sisters have fun while he finished his meal.

We ended up with such beautifully colored eggs that we don't really want to eat them.

Bryan discovered the wonder of Daddy's old headphones this week.



He probably sat here for a whole hour as still as can be listening to his Veggie Tales CD. He was in his own little world and would just stare at us blankly if we tried to talk to him. Yes, I did check the volume of the CD player.

Elizabeth had a school project to do over Spring Break. Her second grade teacher invested one dollar in each of her students and challenged them to find a way to multiply that dollar. The money will be used to buy goats and chickens for stuggling families in Africa. It will not only provide food but also a source of income. Elizabeth's first investment was in a box of cake mix with which we made cupcakes. Due to the generosity of family and friends (or maybe they were just really good cupcakes?) , 24 cupcakes brought in $20.50. She then was hired to do some yardwork for a friend's neighbors and made $10.00 doing that. We decided to keep going and made four dozen cupcakes and 3 dozen cookies as well as some greeting cards which the girls sold at our garage sale for a total of 55.00! All together, they made 0ver $100 which is enough for a goat and chicken. It was a great lesson for the girls and fun to watch their excitement in helping others.

Working hard on their poster.

Selling cupcakes on Wednesday.

Selling cookies on Thursday.



Have a blessed Easter!